Monday, March 30, 2009

Any Where, Any Time

When one of your kids lives on one coast and one lives on the opposite coast, the chance to visit with both of them is rare. Our daughter has been working in Japan since January. Our son and daughter in law generously offered me a ticket to go see her (with our son) and of course, I jumped at it. Japan was never on my list of places to see before I die, but I am so glad I went! We mostly saw Tokyo but it was enough.

I have to back up a little to say that about 2 weeks before the trip, I managed to screw up my knee. Not the knee that was screwed up last winter, the other one. I thought it would right itself (with the help of a cortisone shot) and I would be good to go. Not so much. At the last minute, my friend Jane offered me the use of a collapsible cane. My first reaction was 'no way, I don't need that!' but I took it anyway. Good thing, I never would have made it to the hotel, let alone out to sightsee, without it.

My kids both did a good job of masking their horror at the sight of me gimping along. They took good care of me and we saw alot of wonderful sights. When my knee wouldn't go any farther for the day, they put me in a cab (Tokyo cab drivers are amazing!! fearless, helpful, really nice people) and I went back to the hotel. They came back a bit later with vending machine treats (beer, sake, sandwiches, you name it, you can get it out of a vending machine there) and moral support. They called me 'House' and tried to find the easiest routes to places we wanted to go, including finding escalators and elevators.

The best part of the whole adventure of course was the time I spent with the two of them. They are such great, amazing people.

I hope to have a few more pictures for a future post. Between the cane and my being forbidden to take pictures.... I didn't end up with very many of my own, but I will get some from the kids and post them. Why, you ask, were you forbidden to take pictures? Well, at this point in my life, I need 'readers' for everything. I put them on just under my sunglasses so I can see while still being protected from glare...... apparently I look even dorkier than usual....

Why are we doing this?

When we first started out on the road, we kept kind of a diary of where we went and what we saw. We thought it might be fun to take our diary to the next level. We hope our family and friends will enjoy it and it will help them to keep track of where the heck we are!

About Us

We are retired and lived in our motorhome from 2005-2012. Dave is retired from the Federal Government and I am just retired.
Dave rides his Harley and I knit,spin and dye fiber. We have two great kids, one on either side of the country. Our daughter is on the West Coast, and our son and his wife are on the east coast. We try to divide our time between the two but probably fail.